The atmosphere between Denmark and the Netherlands had been quite edgy as of late. Neither of them looked the other in the eye and when they met they greeted each other with no more than a nod, as opposed to Denmark's usual "glomp-attack". No one knew what was wrong with the two, except of course for themselves, but they didn't realize that it was the exact same thing the other suffered from. After having been friends for so long, one would think they could spot out each other's problems, but as the saying goes: love is blind.
Yes, love. Both of them were reluctant to admit it to themselves at first, but hey: comes love, nothing can be done. And so in the end they came to terms with it, personally. But as it usually is with this sort of thing, they were nervous that the other didn't love them back, and so shut up about it. The nervousness wasn't all that visible on Netherlands – he had worked up a poker face that was nearly impossible to crack – but Denmark was far easier to read, he always had been. In the end the tensions became too much and the two silently agreed they needed some space for themselves, and that's how they found themselves in their current situation.
It was time for the monthly meeting of the EU and all members had to attend, as in the countries themselves, which was odd. The countries were normally only gathered for World Meetings, of which normal humans had no right to interfere, but with the current meeting both countries and their representatives in the union work were present. And that left some, especially the ones of shorter temper, a bit annoyed with the entire thing.
But as it went for our two northern lovebirds they were seated close to each other, the only thing between them being Germany. Sweden and Finland sat on the other side of Denmark, and Belgium and Luxembourg on the other side of Netherlands. This was the usual seating, even at World Meetings and normally it didn't bother them; in fact, if both of them had had enough of their respective form of intoxication – Denmark a few beers (though he didn't really need them) and Netherlands enough smokes of his pipe – they had great fun teasing poor Germany with all sorts of things, making the unfortunate guy very angry, and sometimes flustered, indeed.
But today it felt very awkward indeed. So much so that Denmark attempted to shrink away into his seat, his arms crossed, and Netherlands, being more discrete, just proceeded to stare emptily out a nearby window all the while wanting to fiddle around with his pipe, that had been removed from him upon entering the building. They had said he would get it back though.
Throughout the meeting both of them just sat there, inactive as ever, and the other nations mostly ignored it and presumed it was a bad day; all except two. Belgium was Netherlands's sister so of course she would notice something was off with her brother. She had had a sneaking suspicion for a long while now, and when she sensed the tension between her brother and his old-time friend she was determined to find out what plagued them. And then there was Germany. Being seated between the two, he felt the tension full force and his brows creased more than usual as he tried to understand what was going on. He shared borders with both of them, so he meant he knew them pretty well – as well as he could know someone – and he knew how close his neighbors were. So why all the unfriendly – perhaps a bit exaggerated – atmosphere?
The two red-yellow-blacks wracked their minds for the answers, when they weren't busy with something in the meeting that concerned them, which was most of what got discussed. Throughout the meeting they had to call out to Denmark and Netherlands to make them conscious about what was going on, Denmark jumping slightly and uttering a surprised "huh?" each time and Netherlands slowly just turning his head back to the others and humming questioningly.
In the end though, it had to be too much for someone, and as fate often had it, it was Germany. So when there was called for a break he took a strong hold of Denmark and Netherlands's ears making them both "ow" rapidly and repeatedly.
"The two of you are coming with me," Germany spoke in his own language, very well aware that both of the others understood. He then stood up and began to drag the two with him, making them "ow" even louder. Weird glances were cast their way, but people just supposed the two spike-heads had done something to piss off the stoic German. Only one other really took interest in the little incident, and that was Belgium. Germany usually never went so far as to drag people off; no matter what they had done to bother him and she quickly decided that he wanted to have some sort of serious talk with the two. And so she followed them, curious to see what Germany had to say.
"Alright, what is up with the two of you?" Germany asked as he shoved both of the others into a small meeting room.
"What do you mean?" Denmark asked and rubbed his hurting ear.
"You've been acting weird, both of you, that's what," Germany said and crossed his arms. Meanwhile Belgium stood right outside the room and tried to listen in.
"It is none of your concern Germany," Netherlands replied in a stoic and stern voice, not much different from the one Germany often used himself.
"I've been suffering under your tensions for the past hour or so, and I've had enough," Germany spoke tightly and his eyebrow twitched slightly. "Either you fix your problems yourself or you let someone help."
"Germany's right," Belgium piped up and stepped into the room as everyone turned around to look at her.
"Stay out of this Belgium," Netherlands said – switching to Dutch – nearly commandingly and narrowed his eyes at her.
"No brother," Belgium replied and shook her head. "I'm worried, for both you and Denmark and if you aren't going to fix your problems yourself, then let someone help."
"Belgium, please," Denmark – that had understood just a bit of the conversation – said and reached out for her, but was stopped by Germany.
"Don't interfere," Germany said and looked Denmark square in the eyes, which made him pull back at once.
"And what about you?" Germany asked, gentler this time. "You've been very off lately. What's the problem between you two?"
"It's nothing to be concerned about, don't worry," Denmark said with a slight smile and began fiddling with his fingers.
"If you're acting timid then there definitely is something to be concerned about," Germany pointed out and Denmark's face contorted as if to say "shit", though "pis" would have been more likely.
"Come on, what is it?" Germany continued to try and coax as Belgium did the same with her brother.
"Not while he's here," Netherlands and Denmark whispered in synch though in each their language.
Germany looked over to Belgium and she nodded to him. He nodded back and turned to Denmark.
"Come along then," Germany said and gestured for Denmark to leave the room, much to Denmark's surprise. He quietly shuffled out the door Germany followed behind and closed the door to the meeting room behind them.
"What is it then?" both he and Belgium asked carefully once the door clicked shut.
"I love him," both Denmark and Netherlands no more than whispered and the eyes of their respective listener widened considerably.
"That's wonderful brother!" Belgium said enthusiastically and jumped slightly on the spot.
"No," Netherlands said and looked down at his feet. "No, it's not."
"Why not?" Belgium asked and at once calmed back down.
"I don't know about him," Netherlands whispered and his face fell for the first time in a long while.
"No way to find out but asking," Belgium said happily and stepped up behind her brother and pushed him to the door.
"What are you doing?" Netherlands asked and tried to remove Belgium's hands.
"Giving you a little push," she replied and smiled widely.
From the other side of the door nearly the same talk had gone down, though without enthusiastic jumping up and down and pushing someone to the door, Denmark had moved willingly, though halted right as he reached for the door handle.
"You're never going to know if you don't ask, Denmark," Germany said calmly as he watched the other standing nervously.
"You're right," Denmark said and took a deep breath before reaching out the rest of the way for the handle and turning it to open the door.
And right as he did that Belgium had pushed her brother all the way to the door and halted quickly with an extra strong push, which sent Netherlands forward and straight onto something warm, body temperature warm. And by onto, I mean lips met each other – his arms had caught him before he could really fall. Both Netherlands and Denmark had for a second closed their eyes – Netherlands making ready for impact with the door, and Denmark to take another deep breath – and both sets of eyes snapped open to see the other. But surprisingly enough – to them at least – neither of them pulled away and they stayed still in the doorway, enjoying the moment.
Slowly they both closed their eyes and Denmark let go of the door handle and Netherlands brought down his arms to wrap them lightly around the other. They gently began to move their lips against each other and found that they fit beautifully with each other. As the kiss continued their hold on each other got tighter, but not uncomfortably so.
When they broke apart they both sighed deeply and quickly let go of the other. They leaned on each their side of the doorframe looking away from each other again.
"Oh come now," Belgium said and she was suddenly remembered by both Denmark and Netherlands.
"Say it already, both of you," Germany said determinedly and was remembered as well.
"Both of us?" Netherlands asked incredulously and looked over at Denmark.
"You first then," Denmark said with a small crooked smile.
"No, you can take this one," Netherlands said and nodded once.
"But I insist," Denmark persisted.
"You want us to say it for you?" Belgium suggested before Netherlands could say anything more.
"No," both Denmark and Netherlands replied in unison.
They both closed their eyes and took a deep breath before what they had felt for a long while now escaped both of their lips: "I love you."
Both of them snapped their eyes open immediately and looked at each other surprised. After a few seconds of just staring they both began to laugh and Denmark fell forward into Netherlands's arms.
"And I was so nervous for all this time," Netherlands said when he had calmed down from laughter.
"You were nervous?" Denmark asked and raised an eyebrow. "You can't have been half as nervous as me."
"And how would you know that?" Netherlands asked and leaned down to Denmark's face.
"I just do," Denmark said and brought up a finger to poke at Netherlands's nose.
"The meeting resumes in two minutes," Germany said and looked down at his wristwatch. "So if you'll excuse me."
"I'll be heading back as well," Belgium said and slid past the two in the doorway following swiftly after Germany.
"Now all we need to work on is you and Italy," she chirped happily, her trademark smile crossing her face.
"Not now," Germany said and sighed deeply, making Belgium giggle childishly.
"Well, now that that's said and done," Denmark said and stood up straight again.
"I could really use a smoke now," Netherlands said and patted around his suit.
"Always have an extra pipe on me," Denmark said and fished out a small pipe from an inside pocket, gently tossing it at Netherlands.
"Thank you, honey," Netherlands teased as he put the pipe between his lips.
"You're welcome, dear," Denmark teased as well and both of them laughed together.
"Let's get back before Germany pulls our ears again," Netherlands said as he finished lighting his pipe.
"Probably a good idea. I can still feel where he pulled," Denmark said and rubbed his ear.
And so the two walked back to the large meeting room, hand in hand.
What nobody noticed was Hungary running around with a camera the entire time.
Okay first fic here. Yay! This was a sorta-request from a friend here, and I've finally written it! :D I hope you like it!
OTP, so yea. Please keep in mind this is my first fic, so don't be too harsh, then you're sweety-pies.
When I mention the "red-yellow-blacks" I realise neither the German nor the Belgian flag (Belgian from left to right) have the colours in that order, and that's the point.